With his Gale Bow, Suna crushed through one of the figures’ heads the moment he landed in a skid. A cry resounded from the helmet; he let Delia go, and the [Undead Witch] wasted no time. She formed a dark flame and split it into a dozen small stars, sending them smoldering through the white, futuristic armor.

  Elf, they’re elves. The one Suna just knocked down growled and rushed up. His metallic greaves thump against the sleek, steely surface of the ship’s hull. He thrust his trident forward, and Suna ducked under it, then slammed his Gale Bow into the Elf’s legs in a sweep.

  The huge cannon shadowed them, and it moved with haste at Suna. He propelled himself up, narrowly avoiding being bludgeoned. He stepped on the moving steel and landed just above the Elf. Suna drew an Emberwind Arrow and fired, executing the elf, piercing his helmet. The creature's head blew apart, and Suna was pushed back in recoil.

  He grunted, forcing his hand down again, as the fire force forced him up. That was way too close; using Emberwind like that was risky. His armor protected him, spreading the heat evenly through his body, and from one of the circuits across his shoulder, it hissed, sending a cold vapor out and cooling down itself completely.

  The system offered him information, which Suna just shrugged off. This was quite a useful armor, but one he shouldn’t get used to; he won’t be able to carry this thing out of his dream.

  “There’s no kill notification,” Suna called out, stepping away from the huge cannon, whose barrel was turned away for the moment—whoever had controlled it earlier just tried to smash him.

  “No, there won’t be. The intelligence had not acquired Heaven yet, I think.” Delia stepped beside him, and she knelt, touching the hull with her hand. Branches rose up and entangled themselves in the cannon’s body and its head.

  The machinery groaned and whirred, trying to break through the [Undead Witch]’s magic. But the witch instead just kept summoning more and more brambles. She even began to heat the cannon’s body with her dark flame.

  “This will take a while. Go ahead, Suna. I will make sure they can’t use their two main cannons to devastate the Drow below. Go and kill the commander… The Elf Fleet Captain, in the meantime. This was a stealth ship; its existence was kept secret from most elves as well. There shouldn’t be much of a crew inside,” Delia said.

  Suna looked upon the expansive structure of the ship, a mass of conjoined steel where dozens of guns were mounted. But those guns could not aim at Suna right now, as it was far too long despite being much smaller than the cannon.

  He spotted a door, a rather plain one, on the second gallery. There must be another door that led below, but if he was going to do this, he might as well start from the top.

  Suna propelled himself forward. With Gale Bow in his hand, he zoomed across, nocking another Emberwind Arrow.

  His Sootroot Arrow—no, his Grave Vine Quiver was gone, not transported with him. And worst of all, his Brimhat was not here too, so having his spell arrows and spell bow was a real lifesaver.

  The door burst open, and five elves were bunched together. They spotted him, and one shouted an order.

  Before they could aim their trident at Suna, he already released his arrow, letting it blitz straight toward them. And engulfed the elves in radiant flame, followed by their wrenching cries. Two of them toppled and crashed their head at Suna’s feet. Their armor still protected their head, but in the end, it caused a slight caving of the skulls inside their helmets.

  Suna jumped up, ready to release another as he lightly stepped on the railing. He crouched, with Gale Bow still drawn, and the sickle of wind in his hand seemed eager for more.

  A brief movement appeared, a flicker of light resembling the Elf armor. Suna fired his arrow into the narrow hallway. The Emberwind roared forward; when it connected, it erupted in flames that rushed both ways down the corridor.

  Suna heard multiple shrieks. He entered quickly, with his body low, picking up a trident and holding it in his left arm.

  He entered the narrow hallway, the hum of machinery bristled around him, a different energy than electricity hummed through some glass tubes that shimmered blue. His attention was drawn to it. What was that? It flowed through the entire hallway—as if the glass itself had been made to carry energy.

  As Suna was about to turn at the intersection. A trident rushed at him. He bent his head away and jabbed his own trident into the elf's knee. The trident punched through the armor, and the elf in front of him crumbled. Suna noticed behind him there were three more, trying to get an angle to shoot. So Suna kicked the forefront one, smashing it into his companions. And Suna weaved an Emberwind Arrow and discharged it, letting it tear through the three elves, blowing apart their upper bodies in molten red flame.

  Suna crossed deeper, the ozone stench of burnt bodies beginning to seep through the ship. He found a stair down, leading down and another corridor. Suna decided to descend, following the path of the glass tubes that etched along the wall and ran along the stairs.

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  By the time he arrived at the bottom, a group of Elves greeted him. A dozen of them stood waiting—one, clearly different from the rest.

  Unlike its brethren, white-armored, this one was golden. Plumes of feathers decorated its triangular head and long, sharp ears that jutted from the sides. The elf's armor itself was very ornately decorated, featuring a coiling dragon that slithered around and ended up at a gem set in the center of the chest piece.

  “Fire!” The elf roared; anger plain on his face.

  Suna, with no way to dodge, tried to ascend the stairs again; he wouldn't be able to close the distance.

  He prepared his Gale Step, but the Elf Commander held a bow instead of the usual trident. His Archer Instinct poked him, a reminder of the Pyrebone Archer. Before he could even tap his foot, a lightning arc rushed at him, not an arrow but a pure bolt of lightning.

  Suna's eyes widened, and he lost his balance. But then Pyreflame jumped from his body, erupting upon the arc of lightning.

  A repeated beep sounded in Suna’s head.

  [Warning]

  [Warning]

  That broke his suit. Bristles of electricity ran down the slick armor of his. Suna grunted and felt a searing burn along his skin.

  “Sorcery! The dark sickness!” The Captain bellowed, and his underling let out a feral roars.

  Suna removed his helmet, shaking his head as he drew a sharp breath.

  [Remove Suit?]

  “Yes!” Suna commanded.

  A blitz of energy rushed toward him. His Pyre flame burst again, this time completely melting apart the Drow suit that had just fallen away like a discarded casing. Blue flame engulfed Suna, and he instinctively shielded himself.

  Not wanting any more Pyreflame to be wasted, Suna bent his knee and built up Gale Step under his heel.

  Another arc of lightning rushed toward his flame, almost making it to Suna if not for the flames.

  Then another one was coming.

  After confirming the location, Suna drew Gale Bow.

  He conjured an Emberwind Arrow, drew it, and let it blast forward, parting his Pyreflame shield.

  Suna zoomed forward through the bluish flame. His Emberwind arrow crashed against a veil surrounding the commander's armor, and both the veil and his spell-arrow shattered, sending plumes of smoke upward. He followed by crushing the commander down with his Gale Bow.

  The golden armor smashed into the ground, spattered with blood. The commander let out a cry as his bow went sprawling.

  Suna grinned, and beneath the eagle-headed armor, an eye quivered. Green eyes. “Not a Drow,” he muttered.

  Suna's hand thrummed on his bow as he manifested another Emberwind and quickly aimed it downward.

  But to his annoyance…

  ”Vesa!” A soldier screamed and thrust his trident. Suna readjusted his aim and blew the elf soldier back with a twang of his Arcane String.

  A burst of flame punched through the soldier’s chest.

  “No!” The commander cried. Suna turned to see about eleven of the elves’ soldiers rushing toward him; some tried to fire. But in response to that, Suna crouched on one knee, just above their commander.

  He released Emberwind, igniting three in an explosion and blasting another two in quick succession. These five were the frontliners. He let his arrow streak across, killing two with headshots, just as he had earlier. The surviving four gathered and took aim at him. But as they were about to strike, Suna tapped his feet and launched himself upward, letting the shots crash beneath him. He sent his Emberwind soaring, consuming all four in a trail of flame. The soldiers roared as flames burned them away. One by one, they collapsed, their armor now dark and charred.

  Suna landed, only to find the commander gone. Instead, the elf commander was now much farther away now, retreating deep into the open chamber of the whirring ship. A halo of molten light surrounded Suna as the after-embers danced around him, flames still flickering across the ship's floor.

  Around the commander was a cold interior lined with glass that carried a faint energy, adding a touch of beauty to the scene.

  “Human! Why are you here? The empire agreed to leave this system!” Electricity flowed through the commander's arms; they coalesced into a crackling arc of lightning that formed into an arrow on his fingertip, and a similar electric string appeared. The commander drew it, charging it further and further, making the arrow look as if it was a spear of electricity.

  Suna, in response, drew his Emberwind Arrow, and a tail of wind flickered above his shoulder. But he was not done. Suna breathed out, a stench of burnt incense in his throat. This was the time to surpass his limit. He flint-drew it, and the tail soared like an unruly banner, blitzing around, eager to be released.

  A hot wind swiveled behind his arrow, adding to the force of this spell. Suna grinned, no more headache from using Flint Drew along with Emberwind.

  “Smile? You smile!”

  More lightning surged into the lightning arrow of the commander; it arced into a sharper arrow that sent Suna’s Archer Instinct tingling. A pulse of purple took over the lightning arrow color, a tempered force of archery perfected by future technology.

  “What kind of sorcery is that? Has the Drow Sickness taken over you?”

  “No.”

  Emberwind Arrow surged in a shimmering molten glow, growing bright orange as seconds passed.

  A miasma of heat started to shimmer around him, warping the air into a mirage. “But you’re right on the first question. This is a sorcery—from far in the future.”

  “Nonsense!” The elf howled, discharging the arrow in a streak of lightning toward Suna.

  Suna, in response, released his arrow, and it burst forward—shattering the electric arrow into nothingness. The Emberwind Arrow flared into the Elf Commander's chest, burst out the moment it struck the golden armor, piercing him and leaving a molten gap in its wake.

  The elf gasped, his hand against his gaping chest. He swiveled around, resting his body against a wall, before slowly collapsed, and he was still grasping the railing. “D—Don’t our hopes?” His helmet had fallen, and his long ear twitched as blood slithered down his mouth.

  Suna passed by him, and his next ten minutes were filled with killing any elves that came his way. He entered the rooms one by one until he finally entered a wide-open chamber that nestled a gargantuan square machine shaped like a cube. Glasses cables sprouted from the walls like a spider's silk, transferring the energy inside, causing the cube to shimmer with green lettering.

  Two elves spotted Suna, and they raised their tridents from below toward Suna, who stood on the second gallery, overseeing the machine-like cube. Then a dark flame appeared, slithering like a snake at their throat. Their bodies fell, and Delia swept in, gazing up at Suna, before inspecting the cube.

  Suna dropped, using Gale Step to ease his landing.

  “These are?”

  “They call it Eden,” Delia said. “A power that would completely taken over by the intelligence.”

  “For his robot army?”

  “Exactly, anyway. Congratulation Suna. You complete the first stage.”

  [Drowfication Unlocked]

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